傅树介医生在英联邦唐人街论坛林文庆音乐剧的视频讲话

Dr Poh Soo Kai's Message for LBK the Musical at the CWC
Dr Poh Soo Kai

Transcript

Greetings to participants and distinguished guests at this special event of the Lim Boon Keng Musical, hosted by the Commonwealth of World's Chinatowns in Penang.

I am Dr Poh Soo Kai and, I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to say a few words in honor of Lim Boon Keng and Tan Kah Kee on this occasion because I am Tan Kah Kee's maternal grandson and one of Lim Boon Keng's grandsons-in-law.

Tan Kah Kee and Lim Boon Keng were giants of their times n of today still.

The two men collaborated in various fields, notably in pioneering agricultural research on a new cash crop called rubber from Brazil, and subsequently in investing capital to establish rubber plantations in Peninsula Malaya and Singapore. They were not adverse to taking risks.

But their most famous collaboration was in the setting up of Xiamen University in Tan Kah Kee's home province in China. Tan Kah Kee made Lim Boon Keng, the Principal of Xiamen University.

Lim Boon Keng set to work to improve the standard and ranking of the university. It was under the watch of this brilliant man that Xiamen University had its first scientific research paper published in the London Science Society (I believe). It was certainly no small feat in that era.

However, it was also under Lim Boon Keng's watch that his epic clash with Lu Xun, the eminent Chinese revolutionary, took place. A polemic ensued within the student body of Xiamen University which was also resoundingly echoed throughout the educational institutions of China. The issue hotly debated was framed as: to be “RED” or to be “EXPERT”.

Lu Xun was for the Chinese youth to join the revolutionary front, whilst Lim Boon Keng's concern was for Chinese youth to acquire knowledge that would serve economic reforms.

Decades later, Mao Tse Tong, chairman of the Communist Party of China, reconciled this contradiction with his famous quotation that one should be both RED and EXPERT !

I have written about my grandfather in my political memoirs LIVING IN A TIME OF DECEPTION. Indeed, I am proud to be his grandson. His essence is encapsulated in a poem he wrote in 1948, of which I quote below:

On the rise and fall of a country
Everyone has a responsibility
The self and family may be sacrificed
But between right and wrong, there can be no compromise.

May we carry forward the spirit and legacy of these two great men: LIM BOON KENG and TAN KAH KEE.

This 21st Century that we live in now is one of great turmoil, where we are daily reminded that “between right and wrong, there can be no compromise.”

Enjoy the Musical and a big thank you to Stella for dedicating her talent to preserve the memory of her great grandfather, Lim Boon Keng.

Thank you.